Hospital: Athens-Limestone Wellness Center pool closed permanently

Jun. 17—The Athens-Limestone Wellness Center pools are officially closed for good. The pools have all been drained and Traci Collins, Athens-Limestone Hospital President, said they will no longer offer aquatic therapy, citing financial concerns as the reason for the closure.

It was no longer financially feasible for the hospital to continue operating the pool, Collins said.

"We had made the decision to close the pool back in 2021 due to the high cost of maintaining the pool, and then also the HVAC system had to be replaced and it was going to cost about half a million dollars to do so," Collins said. "There are lots of things we could do with half a million dollars and we felt that we just could not invest a half a million dollars in maintaining a swimming pool."

"We explored every option possible to keep that pool open," Collins said.

Limestone County Commission Chairman Collin Daly said he did not want to see this happen to the residents who have been using the pool.

"As much as the population is growing, we're trying to create a good environment for people to live and have longevity and quality of life," he said. "In growing counties, you know you hardly ever hear of services being taken away and that's what I hate about it."

Collins said that officials had not yet determined what they will do with the former pool space, but they have a few things under consideration.

"We are land-locked here we have almost no room for educational opportunities for our staff and for our medical staff; even our diabetes classes need bigger space," Collins said. "We know that that space could be very well utilized for other things, but we have not made any definite decisions about what we're going to do with the space."

There are no plans to close the wellness center as a whole, and Collins said that no longer incurring the cost of the pool could financially help provide for other improvements.

"We want to make it better, so we're looking at some options of updating the equipment, updating some of the facilities there now," she said. "I can see us making some important improvements there in the future."

Collins said that when it comes to funding, she's thinking about everything from ambulances and ventilators to CT scanners, MRIs, ECHO machines and ultrasound machines.

"There are so many things that those funds are better used for health care, and I understand a pool is for your wellness and for exercise, but there are other options and we have to put those funds for healthcare services," Collins said.

Behind the expense

Among other routine expenses, Collins said the hospital could not afford the expense that it would cost to purchase a needed new HVAC unit to continue the pool operation.

"We would've loved to have kept it open but there was just ... half a million dollars nobody wanted to help fund it," she said.

Collins said that last year when they first announced the pool would close in the future, the county came to the hospital after several people had reached out to them to ask them to do something about it.

"The county came to me and said, 'Hey, if we fund a pool for a year, will you keep it open and then let's explore options?' and I said 'absolutely,'" Collins said. "They did their end of the bargain and I reached out to the county numerous times to Commission Chairman [Collin] Daly; ... the checks stopped Dec. 31 and there was no further conversations about them keeping it open."

Daly said the hospital did not ask them to continue the payments. He said when the contract came to an end, they did talk but the hospital did not request it. He said the hospital was looking for a reason to close the pool.

"If they would've requested it and we would've done it, they wouldn't have been able to do what they did," he said.

Ultimately, Collins said, it is not something the county or the city has control over.

"The swimming pool is owned by the hospital. It has nothing to do with the county; it has nothing to do with the city," Collins said.

Collins said they did talk to different companies about operating the pool, and not just funding it.

"We reached out to the YMCA and we also had another company reach out to us and when they looked at the size, when they looked at the optics of the building, it was just not cost effective for them to even lease it or do anything. It was too expensive for them to operate it," she said.

Even though she said the maintenance money stopped at the end of the year, it wouldn't have ultimately changed the decision to permanently close the pool because of the cost of the new HVAC they would still need to purchase, she said.

"This pool has nothing to do with the county or the city other than people of our community used it," Collins said. "If they had chose to keep funding it every month we would have said that's OK, but we still had to have that HVAC unit."

Community wellness

Collins said she recognized the community need for the pools despite the expense.

"It's very, very expensive to operate a swimming pool and I know there were a few people that used it and they depended on that to do their exercise," she said.

The News Courier spoke to several residents who said the pool has been a useful resource for them.

Linda McMahan said she started going to the wellness center ten years ago and tried to exercise on the machines but she wasn't able to use them and started using the pool. She said she walks with a cane and walker and has had a knee surgery.

"The pool, to me, it's just been a lifesaver," she said. "A hospital to me, the purpose is to heal and help people and to keep them healthy."

She said she went to the dance class and could not do that. She said the water was her savior to get some exercise.

"It wasn't like it was free," she said. "All these people that are going there, they need that pool."

She said she hopes local leaders will be able to help somehow.

"If it boils down to a money issue, I don't believe that," she said. "It's so harmful to the elderly to not have this."

Daly said the county itself has never had a service such as this and the city does have some recreation for wellness.

"We're not above helping the city with that," he said. "I really feel the Huntsville Hospital side of it is, and I hate to say this about Huntsville Hospital, but I really feel that they don't care about the wellness of the community."

Deborah Laxson said she only recently started going to the wellness center after a knee surgery. She said she thought the pool had been closed because of COVID-19, but then she learned it was a humidity issue and then that it was permanently closed. She expressed how she was extremely disappointed because she had been told that the pool would have been a good form of physical therapy for her knee recovery.

In recognizing local alternatives, Collins said there is another pool in the community that provides aquatic therapy, at Encore Rehabilitation on Hwy. 72. Residents who have tried both pools said the Encore pool got much deeper quicker and the wellness center pools just were better suited for their needs.

Collins also added there are a variety of exercise options at the wellness center, such as their different classes. The wellness center also has a fitness floor with a walking track, equipment and free weights. Collins also highlighted other fitness facilities in the community such as 360 Fitness, Workout Anytime and the Athens Rec Center.

"There are lots and lots of options for people to exercise and maintain wellness," Collins said.

Sherrye Collier said the equipment was just not an alternative for the pool. Like McMahan, she said she couldn't use equipment for exercise after foot surgery, so she started using the pool.

"The only thing that really helps me is the pool," she said. "Water is a wonderful thing to have to exercise."

She said she can't really get out and walk on trails because of her balance. With the water, her balance isn't an issue. She said it's not just an inconvenience to drive to use other locations that may offer water therapy, but as a senior she really doesn't even think its safe for her to be driving too far.

"Convenience and access is very important," she said. "Health is important for everybody, especially senior citizens."